The Chronicles of Monkey D Luffy: The East Blue Saga
by Zuriahthedragonking
Summary: What would happen if Luffy ate a hybrid devil-fruit and gave him gum-gum and water-water powers. What if Luffy was smarter, if even just by a little. It's time to find out as Luffy goes forth to become the King of all Pirates! Rated M due to the nature of One Piece.
1. The Journey Begins

I'm in a One Piece mood now so here is my first one story. The two main differences I am making with Luffy is that he is going to be a bit smarter and that fruit he ate will be a hybrid. I think it would be interesting to see what would have happened then so here we go.

I'm Luffy! The man who will be King of the Pirates!

Wealth, Fame, Power... Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates had obtained this as well as everything else the world had to offer. Before being executed, his dying words drove countless souls to the seas. "You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it!" These words lured men to the Grand Line in search of dreams greater than they ever dared to imagine. All across the world people raised their flag as the Golden Age of Pirates began.

Twelve years later in a village called Fushia Village on Dawn Island a band of good-natured Pirates are sitting in a bar while their captain has just finished telling a story to a seven-year-old boy.

"Wow Shanks that was an amazing story! You gotta take the on your next adventure," Luffy exclaimed looking to the Pirates red-haired captain.

"Hah you're too young and weak to join my crew," Shanks said childishly while sticking his tongue out.

"I am strong!" Luffy said angrily. "My punches are as strong as a pistol."

"Yup a pistol," a skeptical Shanks replied. "Well let's see you put your money where your mouth is and punch me as hard as you can."

Shanks the leaned forward in pointed to his left cheek indicating for Luffy to hit him there.

"Alright, here goes."

As Luffy cocked his fist back he subconsciously gathered his emotions into it and punched Shanks with all he had. When the punch connected Shanks, who was not prepared for the coming impact, ended up hurling to the opposite end of the bar and straight through the wall. All the pirates face-faulted upon seeing their captain get sent flying by a seven-year-old, and all eyes went from the new doorway to Luffy who could do nothing but stand there in shock at what he just did. As Shanks got up he started to realize what just happened.

"_This kid just used Haki. But how does he use it at this age," _Shanks thought as he walked back to his seat.

"Captain, are you okay?" asked one of the pirates.

"Yeah, I'm okay. But Luffy, do you know what you just did?"

Before Luffy could answer, the door to the bar was suddenly busted open and in walked a group of mountain bandits led by Higuma. Higuma looked around at the pirates and sneered at them.

"So these are the pirates I've heard about? Humph, they look pretty weak to me"

"Can I help you?" asked a woman named Makino who was in charge of this bar.

"We didn't come here to cause trouble. Just give us a barrel of saké and the damage to your bar will be minimal," Higuma stated.

"I'm sorry but are pirate guests have already drank all the sake I have," Makino said.

Shanks hands out a bottle to the bandit leader offering it to him. Higuma, however, was not a very nice person and was angry that some low-life pirates had taken the sake he wanted. He took the bottle and smashed it over Shanks' head.

"You shouldn't mess with me pirate," Higuma growled.

Shanks looked down at the mess and calmly said, "Well now you've made a mess. Sorry Makino."

As he began to clean the mess up Higuma some reason got even angrier, and used his sword to smash even more bottles. At this point Luffy was very angry at the way his friend was being mistreated and was glaring daggers at the bandit.

"I am a wanted man worth eight million berries. You weak sea-loving pirates don't stand a chance against me," threatened Higuma as though eight million was supposed to be impressive. He then left the bar with his cronies leaving the place in a wreck. Shanks' eyes were overshadowed by his hair as the feeling in the bar was tense before Shanks burst out laughing followed by the rest of his crew. Luffy however was incensed at the fact that Shanks didn't fight and something in his mind snapped as an extreme force of intimidating power was unleashed sending chills down everyone's spine.

"That was NOT cool," Luffy screamed. "How can you call yourselves pirates if you're afraid to fight?!"

"Calm down Luffy. It's just some sake, nothing to get so upset about," Shanks replied trying to calm Luffy down though inside he was shocked at the fact that Luffy had unconsciously used Haki again. Luffy just turned away and the tense feeling disappeared as he calmed down. Just then Luffy saw a chest with a weird looking fruit inside. Feeling hungry he picked it up and ate it noting its bitter taste. Shanks noticed him eating it and panicked.

"Luffy, spit that out now!" Shanks yelled as he went to grab Luffy but when he did something bizarre happened. One hand fazed through Luffy's left leg as though it went through water while the other hand made contact with Luffy's right leg resulting in Shanks holding Luffy upside-down by one leg as his neck stretched to the floor. The entire bar was shocked. Luffy had eaten a devil-fruit, but it appeared to be a hybrid of the gum-gum and water-water fruits. Of course poor Luffy was just confused as hell as he hung in this awkward position before Shanks let go.

"Luffy, do you realize what you've done!?" Shanks yelled as Luffy just shook his head.

"You've just eaten a devil-fruit! It gives you strange powers but prevents you from swimming for the rest of your life…or at least that's what usually happens I'm not sure about the water-water fruit," Shanks exclaimed.

"Shishishi. Oh well, looks like I've gotten stronger."

Moron, you don't know how to control your abilities yet. For all you know you could be weaker!"

"WHAT!? OH SHIT!"

"YOU IDIOT!"

The next day…

"Mayor, come quickly," Makino yelled.

Luffy had gotten into a fight with Higuma and his gang when they had come back to the bar and had the nerve to insult Shanks when he was not even there to defend himself. Luffy had tried to punch Higuma with the same force as when he hit Shanks but Higuma dodged it and dragged Luffy outside. So now Higuma had Luffy on the ground and his foot on Luffy's head intending to kill him.

"Please don't kill him," the Mayor begged when he saw Luffy. "I will give you money, sake, anything just please don't kill him."

"Nice try, old man, but this boy just insulted me and he must die for it," said Higuma with a cold glare. All Luffy could think about at this point was his weakness and how he couldn't defend Shanks and kept thinking the same thing over and over; _"I am going to die. I am going to die."_

Just as Higuma was about to stab Luffy with his sword, his arm was caught by another hand. It was Shanks. He and his crew had come to see what was causing the commotion and boy was Shanks mad.

"How dare you hurt my friend," growled Shanks as he punched Higuma hard in the face to get him away from Luffy.

Now the bandits were mad and began to charge the pirates. Needless to say they ended up getting their asses handed to them by Shanks' first mate, Ben Beckman.

"You'll have to bring a warship to defeat us," Beckman said coolly. But when he and Shanks looked up they noticed a smoke bomb had gone off and neither Higuma nor Luffy were there.

"Oh SHIT, He got Luffy," Shanks panicked.

Meanwhile out on the ocean, Higuma was on a boat holding a kicking and screaming Luffy by the throat.

"HAHAHAHA those pirate will never suspect a mountain bandit hiding in the middle of the ocean!"

"Damn you fight like a man you coward," Luffy yelled.

Higuma just laughed at the poor boy and said "No one's going to find out here brat. You going to drown all alone. Good-bye,you Bastard." And with that Higuma tossed Luffy into the sea laughing at his victory, but it was short-lived as at that very moment a sea-king known as the Lord of the Coast appeared and proceeded to devour a now screaming Higuma before turning its attention to Luffy. Interestingly enough, Luffy was not affected by the sea like most devil-fruit users since one of his powers was control over water. Luffy immediately realized this as he was literally standing on the surface of the ocean, but then he noticed the sea-king was still there and started running as fast as he could back to the island with the sea-king right on his feet.

"Listen up, half of you are to search the south and east parts of town while the other half come with me to check the north, west and the harbor," Shanks ordered his crew to look for Luffy.

"Captain, look out there on the ocean," yelled one of the pirates. Everyone looked and saw Luffy running on the water with the Lord of the Coast closing in. In a flash, Shanks was there and pulled Luffy away just as the monster bit down, missing Luffy by just a margin. Shanks then glared at the sea-king and unleashed a wave of Conqueror's Haki to scare the sea king away.

"Get. Out. Of. Here," Shanks said in a low intimidating voice.

The sea-king seemed to get the message as it panicked and swam away quickly.

"You're really something Luffy. You stood up for us, fought for us, and even managed to move on the sea without losing your strength."

"B-but Shanks," stuttered a crying Luffy. "What about your arm!?"

Indeed Shanks had sacrificed his arm to save Luffy.

"It is a small price to ensure a friend's safety," Shanks comforted Luffy.

It was then that Luffy understood why shanks would not take Luffy on his journey. Despite being stronger than most kids his age, Luffy was not ready for the perils of the mighty sea. But he also learned what a great man Shanks was and vowed to become like him someday.

"So you're not sad about us leaving?" asked Shanks as his crew prepared to leave the village for good.

"Of course I'm sad, but I'm going go on my own journey on day." Luffy replied.

"Hah. That won't happen," Shanks teased, though not maliciously. "I will take years before you are as good as us."

Now Luffy was angry. "It _will _happen, you'll see! I'll gather a crew of Nakama that is much stronger than yours and we will go find the greatest treasure in the world! I WILL BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy screamed.

"Oh, so you're going to be better than us huh? In that case do you mind holding on to this for me?" Shanks gave Luffy his old straw hat and placed it on his head.

"That hat is very precious to me so you'd better take good care of it. When you have become king be sure to give it back to me, okay!"

With this promise sealed, the red-haired pirate left Fushia Village on their next adventure as a crying Luffy watched them leave utterly determined to fulfill his dream and see Shanks again.

Ten years later.

Luffy is now 17 years old and finally setting sail on his small boat as the entire village watches him leave home.

"He's finally going to fulfill his dream," Makino said as the Mayor snorted.

"If he does become a pirate it will bring shame to the village," he mumbled.

As Luffy left the coast the sea king appeared once again, but this time Luffy was ready.

"So you're here," Luffy stated as he cocked his fist back.

"**Gum-Gum Pistol!"** Luffy shot his fist forward and stretched it as it collided with the Lord of the Coast rendering the monster unconscious.

With the monster out of his way, Monkey D. Luffy was at last on his way.

"It's time for my journey to begin!" Luffy shouted to the sky. "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

There you have it. Luffy is on his way. Please let me know what you think so far. By the way keep in mind that while Luffy can use Haki, he is only able to use Observation Haki freely. The other two will occur in response to Luffy's emotions until we get to the time skip, which will be a while as I'm using the Funimation dub for this story. Since this requires money in order to get the DVDs, I ask that you all be patient with me. I promise I will not abandon this or any other story I use. Thank you. See you soon.


	2. Romance Dawn

Hello again. Here chapter two of this retelling of One Piece. This one is particularly long as it involves the first three episodes of the anime. I also want to warn you that I am going to include the filler arcs of the anime with the exception of maybe one or two. Also, when Luffy uses any of the three forms of Haki, he does not realize what it is because Shanks forgot to tell him.

Anyway I know you want to read the story so let's get to it.

Disclaimer: Oda owns One Piece I don't.

Romance Dawn! Iron Mace Alvida and Roronoa Zoro!

Somewhere on the East Blue, a cruise ship the size of a small marine ship with three sails and a large deck is sailing along on a beautiful day. There were hardly any clouds and the sea was calm and still. The people on the cruise ship were the middle of the party completely unaware that danger was closing in on them. The danger was a pirate ship flying a jolly roger with a skull and crossbones as well as a heart in the middle of it. The ship was captained by a woman (if you want to call her that) by the name of Iron Mace Alvida.

As her pirate ship came into view, the crew of the passenger ship flew into a panic. They knew that they were no match for the Alvida Pirates. However, as the pirates boarded the ship on Alvida's orders, and the passengers scrambled to hide, one particular orange-haired woman saw this as an opportunity to get some quick money. She would steal all of the pirates treasure while they were busy raiding the cruise ship. With a devious smile, she quickly changed out of her formal dress and into an outfit that reflected her profession as a thief. She zip lined to the deck of the pirate ship using the ropes the pirates had used to board the cruise ship and snuck her way in what seemed to be a door into the treasure room. Just as she was going to open the door, it opened and out came one of the pirates still on the ship. The girl jumped back in surprise and let out a cute yelp.

"Who are you? I ain't seen you before," said the pirate as he inspected the girl.

Taking advantage of his distracted state, the girl kicked him straight in the groin rendering the poor sap unconscious. The girl then entered the room and was both happy and disappointed at what she saw. There was indeed treasure here but it wasn't the amount she hoped there would be. Still she wasn't going to complain about the free money and proceeded to gather it all in one bag.

Meanwhile, back on the cruise ship a boy about 13 years of age walked into a small room.

"H-hello, is anyone here? Whew, good thing there's no one here," the timid young boy said to himself.

This boy was scrawny, short, and had big glasses with pink hair. He wore a white shirt and blue pants that seemed to be similar to a marine outfit. He searched for supplies that he could take. Oddly enough, this small boy was a member of Alvida's crew, though a more accurate description would probably be a slave to the crew. He soon noticed a giant barrel in the room.

"I wonder what's in that barrel," he muttered.

He began to roll the barrel out of the room when some of the pirates walked in and confronted him.

"Well look it's our favorite coward. Are you trying to hide from all the action again," one of the said in a threatening tone.

"No way, I was just trying to haul this big barrel of beer over to you guys," the boy quickly said.

"Heh Heh, good idea. Let's have some. I'm getting thirsty."

"B-b-but, if Lady Alvida finds out she'll kill us all."

"She won't if you keep you trap shut, right boy," one of the other pirates threatened the poor kid.

"Y-yes of course you're right."

"Heh Heh, I'll open it the old fashioned was," said the first pirate as he cocked his fist back.

But just as he was about to bust the barrel wide open, Out from this barrel burst a 17 year old boy who accidentally hit the pirate with his fists punched up in the air, effectively shocking everyone else in the room. This boy wore an old straw hat on his head with a red, sleeveless cardigan, blue shorts and sandals on his feet. He had a very noticeable scar just below his left eye, and black messy hair on his head.

"I SLEPT SO GREAT!" the boy shouted.

It was then he noticed where he was, who he hit and who was in the room with him, and they all were looking at him with freaked out faces.

"Who the hell are you guys?" he asked the pirates.

"Who the hell are you!?"

"Your friend will catch a cold sleeping like that," he said knowing what happed but decided to play dumb to piss these guys off.

"You're the one who knocked him out!"

"Alright kid I don't know who you are but-"

"Hey, do you know where there's food?" the 17 year old said to the young kid ignoring the pirates completely.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"That's it kid, you're dead!" the two pirates then attacked intending to cut this annoying kid into ribbons but ended up having their swords snapped in two.

"What's wrong with you two?"

"W-who are you?" asked the now scared pirates.

Oh, my name's Monkey D. Luffy. Hi," Luffy said with a grin on his face.

The pirates ran screaming from the room while dragging their unconscious friend by his feet. Luffy then turned to the kid still in the room who was still freaked out at what just happened.

"So do you know where there's some food?" Luffy asked.

"I-I guess there might be some in the storage. My name is Coby by the way."

Coby led Luffy to the storage room where Luffy proceeded to eat everything that was edible. Once he had his fill he turned to Coby and said, "So Coby, I overheard those guys threatening you. Why exactly are you with them anyway?"

Coby turned pink and hesitated before deciding that Luffy was trustworthy enough for Coby to tell him of his of his plight. So he told Luffy how a few years ago he had gotten on a fishing boat to get some food, unaware that it belonged to Alvida and her crew. They essentially kidnapped Coby and forced him to work as a cabin boy on their ship. Luffy was shocked at Coby's apparent cowardice and burst out laughing.

"You're an idiot," he said jokingly as his laughter died down.

"Did you ever consider just leaving?"

"Y-yes, but just the thought of them catching me makes me so scared I want to throw up!"

"You're a moron and a coward! I hate people like you," Luffy said as he began to laugh again leaving poor Coby embarrassed as hell. But then Coby said something that turned the atmosphere into a serious one.

"Oh yeah, well I bet you were scared when you were fighting those guys just now."

"I would never be scared be a bunch of weaklings like them. I wouldn't even be scared if they were strong. As long as I'm fighting for my dream I don't mind dying," Luffy said in a serious voice and Coby could see that he meant every word he said. Feeling curious about Luffy's dream, Coby decided to ask him.

"Hey Luffy, just what is your dream?"

Luffy grinned and said simply, "One day I'm going to be King of the Pirates."

Upon hearing this Coby's expression turned to one of anger. Why the hell would someone as nice as Luffy want to be a pirate? He may be nice and all, but a pirate is still a pirate…..right?

"How could you actually want to be a pirate? They're all evil, murderous, and will kill everyone who crosses their path!"

"That's just ignorance kid. The world is much more complex than that. There may be bad pirates, but there are also bad marines. Just because I say I'm a pirate does not automatically mean I'm evil. Think before you speak next time."

Coby was dumbfounded. At first he had the impression that Luffy would just do and say the first thing that came to mind, not even bothering to think them through. But now he realized that Luffy was smarter than he let on and Coby began to think that maybe if Luffy could have this kind of determination so could he.

"Luffy… do you think if I put my mind to it and ready to die for it that I could achieve my dream?'

"Of course, what exactly is your dream Coby?" Luffy asked.

"My dream is to join the Marines and catch bad guys that harm the innocent. Do you think I can do it?"

"Who knows," Luffy replied.

"Well I'm gonna do it. I'll break out of here, join the Maries, then turn around and catch Alvida myself!"

Just then, the ceiling of the storage room collapsed the dropped Alvida who heard every word Coby had said.

"Who are you going to catch Coby?" Alvida said in a warning tone then she looked at Luffy.

"So this is the bounty hunter who hired, eh? He's certainly not Roronoa Zoro."

Coby seemed to lose all of his confidence and was cowering at the sight the dwarf planet in the room.

"I'll give you one chance to repent Coby. Tell me who is the most beautiful woman on the seas," Alvida said (she apparently hasn't looked in a mirror lately).

"W-w-well, uh, Lady Alvida it's-"Coby started to say but he was interrupted by Luffy.

"Hey Coby, who's this fat old hag?" he asked.

Everyone face-faulted at this no one ever dared to insult Alvida, especially not like that. Now there was going to be a fight since Alvida was _very_ pissed.

"YOU RUNT!" Alvida screamed as she swung at Luffy who jumped to avoid the impact. He then grabbed Coby and jumped out through the hole in the ceiling. All of the pirate crew proceeded to gang up on Luffy.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Luffy screamed and ran from them but then grabbed on to the mast and kept running, stretching his arm in the process. The crew stopped when they realized this and started freaking out.

"I've got you now", Luffy said as he kicked off the ground and flew back at them.

"**Gum-Gum Rocket!"** Luffy shouted as he flew at and punched them all sending Alvida's entire crew scattering across the deck. Both Alvida and Coby saw this and realized that Luffy was no ordinary guy.

"Luffy, what are you?" Coby asked.

"Oh, I ate a devil-fruit and can now stretch myself like rubber."

"Is that right? Well this is interesting, but nevertheless you are no match for me!" Alvida declared as Coby ran behind Luffy.

"Luffy, let's get out of here. You saw how strong her club is and of all the people on the seas she's easily the most…." Coby trailed off as he remembered Luffy words in the storage room.

"Yes Coby, tell him what I am," Alvida sneered.

"You're… the ugliest hag on the sea!" Coby shouted.

If Alvida wasn't livid before, she most certainly was now, but Luffy just cracked up laughing at the look on her face.

"What did you say!?"

"You heard me, and I'm glad I said it too. I'm going to join the Marines and spend the rest of my life beating up dirty pirates like you, and I'll start with you!"

"YOU ARE DEAD, YOU BRAT!"

As Alvida began swing at Coby, the young boy kept thinking to himself _"No regrets, none at all. I said what I wanted and fought for dream, but boy is this going to hurt!"_

"Well said, Coby. Now leave the rest of me," Luffy said as he pushed Coby out of the way so the club slammed right on Luffy's head. Such a hard hit would have killed any normal man, but Luffy was completely unaffected.

"That won't work on me!" Luffy then knock the club away and changed his arms to water, catching everyone off guard.

"What the hell kind of fruit did you eat," Alvida demanded.

"A hybrid one," Luffy answered as he moved to punch Alvida with both his hands.

"**Take this, Water-Water Hydro Cannon!"**

Two columns of water shot out from Luffy's arms and slammed into Alvida, the impact sending her hurling off the ship and into the distance, scaring the crap out of all the pirates.

"Hey you guys go find a boat and give it to Coby," Luffy ordered the pirates who immediately complied.

Upon getting to the boat, Luffy and Coby cut the suspension ropes and dropped down to the ocean right next to the orange haired girl who was tying her treasure to her own boat. Her eyes met Luffy's as time seemed to slow down. At the same time, three Marine ships had arrived and began shooting at the pirate ship. One of the cannon balls heading straight for the girl, who didn't notice until it was just 30 feet from her. Luffy, however, did sense it thanks to Observation Haki and he quickly jumped in front of the girl and moved to punch it. Without warning, Luffy's arm turned black as he subconsciously used Armament Haki and punched the cannon ball sending it back at the Marine ships. It hit one of the ships causing it to explode while the other two were caught in the explosion and were also destroyed. The girl stood there in shock at what this boy had done and thought, **'**_Did he just destroy those ships with their own weapon?'_

After about a minute, she snapped out of her shock and remembered the situation she was in.

"Thank you for saving me", she said still admiring Luffy's strength. Luffy turned around and saw the girl looking at him as time seemed to slow down again.

"No problem, you ought to be more careful," Luffy managed to reply with a smile on his face.

His smile caused the girl to blush slightly as she thought what a good person this boy was. Luffy walked back to his boat and rejoined Coby.

"Well, see you later," Luffy said as he waved to the girl as she waved back. She kept staring at him as they left before snapping back to reality and resuming tying her bag of treasure to her boat so she could get going to her next destination.

Back on the boat with Luffy and Coby, Luffy began to think about what Alvida had said during their fight. She had mentioned someone named Roronora Zoro, and now Luffy was thinking he might be good for his first crew member.

"Hey, Coby, have you heard anything about this Roronora Zoro?"

"He's the most feared pirate hunter in all of the East Blue, beast that will cut down anyone and anything in his past. Don't tell me you're planning to ask him to join you!" Coby exclaimed realizing Luffy's intentions.

"I sure am. Besides, I bet this Zoro is a nice who is just feared by the people due to his swordsmanship."

Coby knew there was no changing Luffy's mind now so he figured he might as well help Luffy find Zoro.

"Well, last I heard Zoro was being held at a marine base on Shell Town."

"Shishishi, then that's where we're going," said Luffy with his trademark grin.

Upon getting to Shells Town, Luffy and Coby started walking towards the giant marine base.

"I wonder if that Zoro guy is still here," Luffy asked to one in particular only to find all the people jump in fright at the mention of the pirate hunter.

"I guess that's a yes. Anyway I've heard this base is run by a guy named Morgan," Luffy continued and once again the civilians flipped upon hearing the name of the Marine Captain's name.

"That's weird, I can understand them being scared of Zoro but why did they flip when Morgan was mentioned," Coby asked genuinely confused.

"Remember what I said Coby. There are both bad pirates and bad marines. Maybe this Morgan is sailing under a marine flag but is an evil man."

Coby just nodded as they approached marine base which really stuck out like a sore thumb in terms of appearance. Luffy started to climb the outer wall to look inside for Zoro. Coby climbed up there as well (after some encouragement from Luffy) and what he saw scared him half to death. There in the middle of the yard, tied to a post that looked like a crucifix, was the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro.

"T-t-there he is. He looks just as scary as I imagined he would," Coby stuttered.

Well I'll just go over there and untie him. Then he'll have to be my Nakama," Luffy decided as though it was the simplest concept in the world.

"Are you crazy!? If you set him free he'll kill both of us!"

"He won't kill me, I'm strong."

"I know you are but what about me!?"

Just then a ladder plopped beside them and a little girl climbed, got over the wall, and walked over to Zoro.

"What do you want kid. Go away," Zoro coldly said to the girl.

"I thought you by be getting hungry so I made you some rice balls," the girl said.

"Listen kid I'm not hungry and I don't want your rice ball. Now get lost."

"B-but…"

"Do you have death wish!?"

Now, now, no one likes a bully," another voice called causing both of them to turn around. It was Helmeppo accompanied by two marine guards walking towards them. Coby smiled thinking the girl would be saved.

"Well look at this. Some tasty rice balls," Helmeppo said as he snatched one away from the girl and ate it. However, he immediately spit it out with a disgusted look on his face.

"This has sugar in it! You're supposed to use salt, you stupid girl!"

"I-I thought it would taste better with sugar."

Of course Helmeppo didn't listen and grab the other rice ball, threw it on the ground and stomped on it repeatedly. The poor girl was filled with sadness as she saw this and began to cry.

"I w-worked so hard on that rice ball," she cried

"You know, those who assist criminals any way are executed as per my daddy's orders, but I think I'll just throw you out instead. You throw her out right now, Helmeppo ordered one of the guards. The guard then walked over to pick the kids up.

"I'm really sorry about this," he whispered to the girl. "Just try to curl into a ball so that it doesn't hurt too much."

He then threw the girl over the wall as Luffy jumped and caught her before she hit the ground. Coby, astounded at the marines' cruelty quickly went over to her and began checking her for wounds. Once Helmeppo and the guards had left, Luffy walked up to Zorro.

"You're stuck out here for all the world to see and you've been here how long? If I were you I'd starve to death in three days."

"That's the difference between you and me. I will survive this ordeal with spirit alone: this I swear."

Luffy nodded and started walking away.

"Wait, before you leave pick up that rice ball for me."

"You're gonna eat this? It's mostly a ball of mud now."

"Just shut up and give it to me!" Zoro ordered.

Luffy picked it up and gave it to Zoro who ate it all.

"It was good. Tell the kid it was good," Zoro said.

Luffy grinned and left the base.

"Really, he ate it?" the girl happily asked.

"He sure did, every grain of it," Luffy replied.

"Is Zoro really a bad person?" wonder Coby who was questioning his earlier impression of the man.

"No! Zoro never did anything wrong. He's just being punished because of us," the girl replied.

She then told Luffy and Coby about how Zoro had defended her and her mother when Helmeppo walked into their restaurant with his pet Coyote. When it tried to bite her, Zoro killed the beast with his sword. Helmeppo then threatened to have Zoro executed unless he stayed tied up to the post for a whole month. Should Zoro survive the month then Helmeppo promised to let him, the girl and her mother go free. Just then Helmeppo walked into the restaurant and sat down at table near a certain orange haired girl. He threw his feet onto the table and declared he was going to eat there free. Now Luffy was getting mad but he soon got livid after what Helmeppo said next.

"It's been far too boring around here so I think I'll execute Zoro for the hell of it."

Suddenly Luffy rushed up to Helmeppo punched him hard in the face, knocking the coward down to the floor.

"Luffy, what're you doing!?" Coby exclaimed as he went to restrain Luffy.

"This guy is scum!" Luffy growled.

"Y-you punched me. You actually punched me! I'll tell my father!" Helmeppo exclaimed.

"So what?!"

"He'll have you executed!"

"Why don't do something about it instead of using your father's name as an excuse, you coward!"

Helmeppo got up and ran towards the marine base, intending to tell Captain Morgan about Luffy. Coby looked at Luffy and saw his eyes were covered by his hat as he spoke in a low, venomous voice.

"I've made up my mind. Today, Zoro joins my crew!"

There you have it. Looks like things are about to get violent and the marine base. Please review and let me know what you think. See you guys later.


	3. Zoro and Nami

Here is the third chapter and the point where I change things up a bit. This will conclude the Romance Dawn arc and begin the Orange Town arc where Nami and Luffy officially meet. For those who are Luffy x Nami fans this will have something I'm sure you'll like. Also, I want to point out that even though Luffy can switch between rubber and water, he mostly uses the former while the latter is secondary. So let's get started.

Disclaimer, I don't own One Piece, I'm just a fan.

Battle in the courtyard! The fall of Captain Morgan and the girl named Nami!

Back at the Marine base in Captain Morgan's office, Captain Morgan was sitting at his desk with his back to the officer in the room and looking out the window.

"I am great," Morgan stated.

"Yes Sir. You're right, Captain Morgan, Sir," the officer responded while saluting.

"Yet, the taxes we collect don't even compare to my sheer degree of greatness."

"Yes, you're right, Sir. I guess the citizen's wallets just aren't very deep these days, Sir."

"The issue at hand here is their level of respect for me, wouldn't you agree?"

Just then, Helmeppo barged into the office, still crying over being punched by Luffy.

"Daddy, there's someone outside that I want you to slaughter, and I want it done now!" Helmeppo exclaimed like the brat he is.

Meanwhile, out in the courtyard, Zoro was reminiscing about an old friend of his named Kuina when he noticed Luffy had come back.

"Oh, it's you again. Don't you have things to do?" Zoro asked.

"I'll untie you, but only if you promise to join my pirate crew," Luffy stated.

"No way, I'd never stoop to joining up with a criminal, screw that business."

"What's wrong with being a pirate?"

"Their despicable, that's what's wrong with it!"

"Oh, come on. Everyone already knows you as some vicious bounty hunter always out for blood."

"People can say whatever they want about me, but I've never done anything in my life that I regret. So I won't become a pirate," Zoro declared.

"Too bad, I've already decided that you're going to be part of my crew."

"You can't decide that for me!"

"Sure I can, I'm your Captain after all," Luffy said with a grin. "Besides I hear your one of the best swordsman around."

"I am, but that idiot Captain's son took mine away."

"Well then, I'll just go get it. So if you want your swords back you'll have to join my crew. Shishishishi."

"THAT'S BLACKMAIL, YOU JERK!"

Luffy just started running towards the base dead set on getting Zoro's sword back. Zoro just watched him go with a dumbfounded look on his face.

'_Is he really gonna bust in there alone? This guy's an idiot!' _Zoro thought to himself.

On top of the highest tower of the marine base, Captain Morgan had his subordinates lifting a giant statue of himself by ropes while Helmeppo was trying to get his father to punish Luffy and failing miserably.

"Well dad, are you going to get revenge on this guy or what? I mean he just out right struck me in public. You've never hit me before why should he be able to?" Helmeppo ranted.

"Do you have any remote idea as to why I've never hit you?" Morgan asked Helmeppo with his back to him.

"Isn't it because you think I'm great?"

"No. It's because…" Morgan began before doing the unthinkable.

**WHAM!** Morgan turned around and punched his own son sending him flying straight into a wall.

"…you're a stupid fool who isn't even worth hitting," he finished.

He then picked Helmeppo up by the collar with the wooden top of his ax hand.

"Don't get the wrong idea, the only great one here is the man you call your father," he declared as he tossed Helmeppo back to the ground.

"That reminds me; I heard that a little rat snuck into the crucifixion yard."

"That's right, the little girl. I had her dealt with," Helmeppo said.

"I hope that means killed."

"No. I didn't kill her, she's just a kid."

This did not sit well with Morgan and he turned to his highest ranking lieutenant and ordered him the go kill the girl.

"But Sir, you can't be serious; she's just a little girl!" the lieutenant exclaimed.

"I don't care if she's a child or not! Anyone who disobeys my orders is a traitor."

"No sir, I can't do it"

Morgan was now angry and hit the lieutenant hard on the head with the blunt end of his ax hand, making everyone else on the tower begin shaking with fear.

"My strength is what I used to rise to the rank of Captain. Listen, in this world titles are what matter. That means by being the Captain of the base and the highest ranking officer, I am the most superior person as far as the eye can see! This means that I do everything right! Am I correct men!?"

"Yes, Sir you are correct Sir," the officers said out of fear.

"Let's put killing the girl on hold for now, and finish lifting this magnificent statue. This took me years to complete but here it is. Now lift it up, display my greatness at the top of this base for all to see!"

As the soldiers lifted the statue, its left hand was bumped into the dome at the very top of the tower. The poor soldier who did it soon had Morgan staring him down with a murderous glare.

"How dare you bump this statue," Morgan growled.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't mean it!"

I consider the slightest scratch on this nothing less than a traitorous action punishable by death!"

Back on the ground, Luffy was still trying to find a way into the base but was having no luck. Then he noticed the activity occurring on the highest tower.

"I wonder what's going on up there. Guess I should check it out."

Luffy then stretched his arm up to grab onto the ledge of the top.

"**Gum-Gum Rocket!" **

Luffy shot up to the tower but he jumped too far and went flying higher and higher. He quickly stretched his arm to grab onto the first thing he saw, which ended up being one ropes on Morgan's statue, and reeled himself in. the sudden jolt of the ropes ended up causing the statue to break in two as everyone face-faulted, knowing their Captain was going to lose it.

"Seize him at once so I can kill him myself!" Morgan roared.

"That's him daddy, that's the guy who punched me," Helmeppo yelled.

"There you are. I been looking for you, you've got something I need to get back," said Luffy as he grabbed Helmeppo and ran into the base. As he ran through the hallways looking for Zoro's sword he passed the orange haired girl again. Once again their eyes met and time seemed to slow down, but Luffy kept running as the girl ran the other way.

"Alright, tell me where Zoro's sword is," Luffy said to Helmeppo.

"It's in my room."

"Where is your room?"

"We just passed it. It's three doors down on the left.

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Now we gotta go all the way back."

As Luffy turned around, he saw three marines pointing guns at him.

"Don't move unless it's to let Helmeppo go," one of them ordered.

Luffy just picked Helmeppo up and placed him between himself and the marines.

"Go ahead and try to shoot me if you want," Luffy challenged.

"No please, don't shoot!" Helmeppo begged as Luffy proceeded to run past the marines Helmeppo in front of him.

Once they got to Helmeppo's room, Luffy noticed not one but three swords leaning on the wall in the corner of the room. Unsure of which sword was Zoro's, he just picked all of them up. Just as he was about to leave he noticed Coby in the yard looking frightened.

Five minutes ago, Coby had arrived in the crucifixion yard and began to try to untie Zoro.

"You've got to get out of here Zoro."

"That maniac is going to kill you for what you're doing right now," Zoro warned.

"I can't stand to watch the marines behave like this anymore," Coby said disregarding the warning. "A true marine should be honorable."

"Look kid, I can't leave. I got ten days left and then they're-"

"Actually, they're going to execute you tomorrow."

"What!?"

"Helmeppo never intended to honor your agreement," Coby explained. "He planned on killing you from the start, which made Luffy really angry, so he just knocked him out."

"He did?"

"Now that the marines are made they're dead set on catching Luffy. Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask you to become a pirate though. But I hope you'll help him, you have a lot of strength you can offer. Luffy's the only person who can actually save you from execution and you're the only one who can help save him from a very similar fate."

Zoro seem to be thinking about what Coby said. If the marines were really going to execute him, then he needed to get out of these ropes quickly. He wasn't the kind of person who would take this lying down, after all. But then, things went from bad to worse as Captain Morgan and the marines had arrived in the yard, dead set on killing both Zoro and Coby.

"End of the line, you brats," Morgan said. "For the traitorous acts you've committed against me, I sentence you both to die where you stand."

The marines pointed their guns at them, prepared to fire on command.

'_No, I can't fall now.'_ Zoro thought as he remembered the promise he made to Kuina.

"Fire!" Morgan shouted.

Just as the bullets left the guns Luffy arrived in a flashed via the Gum-Gum Rocket and the bullets hit him instead.

"What!?"

"Luffy, no!"

"Straw Hat!"

The bullets that hit Luffy then appeared to stretch into his back but they didn't penetrate. Luffy had a grin on his face and suddenly straightened up causing the bullets to bounce back to the marines missing them just barely.

"Shishishishi! That won't work on me!" Luffy laughed.

Everyone was shocked at what had just happened. Never before had the seen someone who was actually immune to bullets.

"Who the hell are you?!" Zoro asked, shocked at what he had witnessed.

"My name's Monkey D. Luffy and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."

"You must be completely out of your rubbery mind! Do you have any idea what that means?"

"It means King of the Pirates. How can it mean anything else?"

"When he first told me I was shocked as well, but he's dead serious about it," said Coby " I guess it's just the way he is, because he as actually has every intention of becoming King of the Pirates and obtaining the world's ultimate treasure; the One Piece."

Luffy took the three swords off his back and showed them to Zoro.

"Here's what I promised you. There are three of them. I couldn't tell which one was yours so just took all of them.

"All of them are mine. I use Santoryu; the three sword style," Zoro answered.

"Well go ahead and take them. Just know that if you fight with me now you'll be a government defying villain so it's either that or you're left out here and killed by the marines execution style."

"What are you, the son of the Devil? It doesn't matter because if I don't choose side I'll just end up dead on the sticks. So you've got yourself a pirate," Zoro said with an evil grin.

"Alright, this is going to be fun," Luffy declared. "Now let's get these ropes off you."

Luffy then began to work on the ropes while the Marines were still in shock at how their guns had failed against Luffy.

"It seems straw hat isn't a normal human. He must have eaten a devil fruit," Morgan surmised. "But it doesn't matter; all who oppose me are executed. If the guns won't work we chop!"

As the marines drew closer with their swords, Luffy was still trying to get Zoro free. Closer and closer they came as Luffy finally got one of Zoro's arms free. Just before the marines were close enough to strike Zoro got free and blocked them with his three swords.

"The first one to make a move dies," he said in a dark tone.

"He's scary," the marines whined.

"Today I officially become a criminal having fought the marines so I'll become a pirate. But keep in mind while I'm with you the only thing I dedicate myself to is my ambition to become the world's greatest swordsman. If you do anything to jeopardize that, I will cut you down."

"You got it, after all the King of the Pirates wouldn't have anything less than the best on his crew."

"Big talk, captain. From this point forward weather I'm a criminal or not, I will spread the name Zoro throughout the world."

"What are you fools doing?! I want you to kill all three of them right now," Morgan shouted at the marines.

"You might want to duck," Luffy said.

Catching onto what his now captain was implying Zoro quickly moved out of the way.

"**Gum-Gum Whip!" **Luffy stretched and moved his leg like a whip and knocked down all the marines behind Zoro.

Now the marines were getting worried and started realizing the futility of fighting these guys.

"Captain, we can't fight these guys."

"Yeah, they're insane."

"We couldn't even beat Zoro by himself."

"This is a direct order. All marines who spouted weakness pull your gun out and shoot yourself. I can't do anything with weak solders," Morgan ordered.

Now Luffy was made a quickly ran towards Morgan to punch him. Morgan lifted up his ax hand just in time to block the attack and then cast his coat aside prepared to battle Luffy.

"Rank less lowlife bums! You have no right to defy my superiority! I am Marine Captain Ax-Hand Morgan!"

"I'm Luffy, nice to meet ya."

Morgan charged Luffy to cut him down but Luffy dodged by jumping then kicked Morgan in the face with the souls of his sandals, sending the corrupt captain falling to the ground. Luffy then picked him up by the collar and prepared to punch him hard.

"You call yourself a marine, but you're ruining my friend Coby's dream," Luffy yelled and kept punching Morgan's face until a voice rang out from near Coby.

"Straw Hat, stop right now or I'll blast your friend's head off!"

It was Helmeppo who now had a gun pointed at Coby at point-blank range. Luffy stopped what he was doing but didn't move. He knew Helmeppo didn't have it in him to shoot Coby.

"Luffy, listen to me don't let what happens to me stop you even if I die," Coby shouted.

"Of course, you hear that idiot, Coby's ready to die by your hand," Luffy said to Helmeppo as he began to walk up to him.

Helmeppo just kept yelling empty threats as Luffy got closer, but then Morgan got up and moved to kill Luffy who jut ignored him.

"**Gum-Gum Pistol!"** Luffy punched Helmeppo as Morgan's ax hand stopped just an inch from Luffy's head. Morgan's face was twisted in pain as fell backwards.

"Nice one, Zoro," said Luffy knowing who did it.

"Anytime, Captain," Zoro responded. He then turned to the remaining marines who were stock still, seeing their captain defeated. "If anyone else wants to arrest us we're waiting."

What the marines did next, no one suspected. They threw their swords and hats in the air and cheered.

"Morgan's been defeated!"

"We're finally free!"

"I guess they were just forced to be mean by Morgan," Luffy surmised.

"You're smarter than you let on," Zoro remarked.

"Only when I need to be," Luffy said. "Now let's go get some food!"

Back at the restaurant the little girl and her mother owned, Zoro and Luffy were finishing eating while Coby watched. Despite the fact that Zoro hadn't eaten in weeks, Luffy still managed to eat more than him.

"Ah, now that was some good food," Zoro announced.

"It sure was, and now we can start planning for our journey," Luffy said.

"Speaking of which, where is your ship Luffy?"

"It's back at the port. It's just a small one, but soon we'll get a much bigger one."

"And just how are you planning to do that?" Zoro asked, mildly surprised at Luffy's apparent lack of planning.

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out."

Just then some of the marines from the base walked in with serious looks on their faces. One of them (I'm guessing he was the new Captain) stepped up and addressed Luffy and Zoro.

"Is it true that you're pirates?" he asked to two of them.

"Yeah, it's true," Luffy answered.

"We are grateful that you freed us from Morgan, however as marines we still have our duty to capture all pirates. But in light of your actions, we will not arrest you or inform marine headquarters about you and simply ask that you leave," the marine said with a look a guilt.

The citizens began to shout in outrage at how their saviors were being mistreated, but Luffy just smiled and got up.

"Come on Zoro, we're leaving," he said.

As they got to the door, Luffy heard the officer ask Coby if he was with them and when Coby hesitated he decided to step in.

"If you need a background check on him, I can tell you what he's been doing the last couple years."

Coby froze at this. _'No Luffy, you wouldn't. If you tell them now I'll never join the marines,'_ he thought to himself. Luffy started bringing up Alvida and just before he got to the part about Coby, Coby snapped and punched Luffy hard in the face, shocking everyone present.

"That wasn't too smart," Luffy said, and he began to continuously punch Coby until the marine officer stepped in.

"That's enough! It's clear that you are not friends, now get out before you cause more trouble," he shouted.

Luffy let go of Coby and walked out with Zoro behind him. Coby lay there on the floor knowing what Luffy did.

'_He did that for me. He said all those things so I would get angry and hit him. All so no one would suspect that we're friends. Even at the end of our journey together, I still relied on him. I couldn't do anything by myself. I'm such an idiot!' _Coby got up and addressed the marine officer.

"Sir, please you have to let me join the marines! I'll do any chores that you'd like me to. I'll do anything to become a marine."

One of the other officers addressed the lieutenant.

"Sir, I can't say I fully trust this kid. I wouldn't be against the idea if there weren't clear cases of certain marines actually being pirate spies. We ought to conduct a background check first."

"No matter what you say I am a man who will become a marine," Coby declared.

The marines where left silent at Coby's determination. The lieutenant then walked up to Coby.

"I can't tell you how many of our comrades have been killed by pirates over the years. This is a big step you're taking. Permission to join granted."

Coby was smiling from ear to ear. At last he had fulfilled his dream, and it was all thanks to Luffy.

As Luffy and Zoro walked to their boat they discussed what Luffy had done back at the restaurant. Knowing Coby would be okay now they began to shove off. As they were leaving the port they noticed the girl, her mother and Coby there, the latter saluting Luffy.

"Luffy, I can never thank you enough. You've done more for me than anyone ever has."

"There's one for the history books, a marine thanking a pirate," Zoro commented.

Just then the rest of the marine appeared and saluted Luffy as well.

"That's a good friend you have there," the lieutenant told Coby, making him realize he knew all along.

"Men, seeing as our current salute is in violation of marine law we will all go without food for three days. Do we all understand this?"

"Yes sir!"

Now Luffy was on his way with a new Nakama and ready for a new adventure.

A few days later, Luffy and Zoro where just drifting on the ocean. They were both quiet and hungry because Luffy had eaten all the food.

"Man, I'm so hungry," Luffy complained.

"It's your own fault for eating all the food we had," Zoro said in an annoyed tone.

Just then a giant bird flew over them. Luffy saw it and immediately got ready to catch it.

"Alright, I'm finally gonna have meat, **Gum-Gum Rocket!"**

Luffy stretched out his arm to grab the bird and catapulted himself towards it before Zoro realized what he was doing. But soon he heard Luffy hollering for help, and he looked up to see that Luffy was stuck in the bird's mouth. He sweat dropped and started rowing to catch up to the screaming Luffy. Just then he saw a group of men in his path begging him to help them. Zoro wasn't about to stop for fear of losing his captain so he told them to just grab on and try not to get run over. Well they all managed to get on but then they're whole demeanor changed as they announced that they were pirates and were going to take over his boat. Now Zoro was really pissed and he made sure these pirates knew it. By the time he was done they all had bumps and bruises all over their faces.

"Hehehe. Sorry, we didn't know you were Zoro the pirate hunter," one of them said nervously.

"You idiots made me lose sight of my friend now get rowing!" Zoro said in a threatening tone in order to get them to do it faster.

Meanwhile, Luffy was hanging from the mouth of the bird a he was cycling between having fun and being annoyed. Sure this was interesting seeing the world from up here, but now he had no idea where Zoro was or for that matter where he was. But he was soon snapped out of his thoughts when a cannon ball hit the bird square in the chest, making it loosen its grip on Luffy. Luffy took this opportunity to jump out of the bird's beak and he fell hundreds of feet down to the streets of a town. By some twist of fate, he ended up falling right between the now familiar orange haired girl and three pirates that were chasing her. When they saw him fall flat on his back, they were sure he was dead but to their disbelief Luffy got right back up just laughing his ass off.

"Shishishishi. Now that was fun!"

The girl was the first one to get out of her shock and she immediately recognized him as the boy who had saved her before. It didn't take long for her to think of a plan to save herself and she quickly addressed Luffy.

"Hi captain, I knew you'd come to rescue me," she exclaimed.

Luffy looked to the girl and recognized her and what she was doing, but he decided to play along.

"Don't worry, you just leave these weakling to me," he said catching her off guard.

Still, she nodded and got back to let him do his thing. The pirates were now pretty mad at Luffy for calling them weaklings and charged him. Luffy dodged their sword attacks and punched all three of them knocking them out. He then tuned to the girl to see if she was hurt.

"Hey, are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. That was pretty good acting."

"Say, you're pretty strong! How would you like to join me?" she asking thinking having a bodyguard would help her reach her goal.

"No thanks, not really interested," Luffy replied as he started walking away with the girl following him.

"Now, what was I doing again?" he wondered to himself as his stomach began to growl. "That's right, I'm really hungry.

"How about I treat you and we can talk some more. By the way, my name's Nami," Nami persuaded though Luffy only thought that she would get him food.

The two of them walked into a house where they found some stuff for sandwiches. Nami and Luffy made some but kept eating more and more, leaving Nami surprised at how much this guy could eat. As Luffy finished he asked her "So why exactly were those guy after you?"

Nami took out a map and proudly said "I stole this map of the Grand Line from them."

"A map, so you're a navigator?" an interested Luffy asked.

"That's right; I'm the best navigator in the East Blue. You won't anyone here as remotely good as me."

"Then how about you join my crew?"

Nami was happy at the offer but soon she became angry and disgusted at what he said next.

"I running a crew of pirates!" he said clearly not thinking it was a bad idea.

"Well you can forget me joining you! I hate pirates! All I care about in this world is money and tangerines!" Nami yelled slamming her hands onto the table where they were eating.

Luffy's Observation Haki kicked in and knew there was something wrong. He sensed the deep scars on Nami's heart as well as what had cause them. He saw that deep down she was very sad because a pirate named Arlong had killed her mother and forced her to work for him as his slave until she could get enough money to buy her village back from him. Luffy was both sickened at what that jackass had put this girl through and admiring towards this girl for having stayed strong through all of it. He wanted to help her anyway he could, but first he would let her know that he knew of her pain.

"I know," he said simply as Nami raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"It must be very painful to lose someone you love and then be force to work for the person who killed her. Still you kept focused and fought all this time to save those you love. I respect people like that. I've heard things about this Arlong. For some reason he has an extreme hatred for human. I don't know why, but I do know that what he did to you was wrong. If you don't want to join my crew I won't force you to," Luffy said sincerely.

Nami was in shock at how much he knew about her and how sympathetic he was. _'He says he's a pirate, but he doesn't like to see people suffer? Who the hell is this guy?!' _she thought not expecting this at all.

"Oh, my name's Luffy by the way. So do you know who the captain of those pirates is?" Luffy asked deciding to change the subject for now.

His, uh, his name is Buggy the Clown," Nami replied stuttering slightly as she snapped out of her shock. "He's got a lot of treasure waiting to be stolen by me…" she trailed off.

"So you're a thief that steals from pirates, huh?"

"That's about right."

"Well how about we make a deal. I'll help you steal Buggy's treasure and in return you join crew. By the way, before you make a decision, I want you to know that even though I'm a pirate that doesn't I'm a bad guy. But I'll let you be the judge of that," Luffy said hoping for a yes before leaving Nami to her thoughts.

Nami began thinking hard about this. _'If I join him, he'll help me get to my goal, but I'll also be joining a pirate crew which is something I swore never to do. Then again, he did save me and he does seem to really want to help me. I guess I can trust him for now seeing as how he seems to be the polar opposite of Arlong." _ So she decided to go along with him at least for now.

"Okay, I'll join you. So how exactly are we going to steal Buggy's treasure?"

"Well, you see that rope in the corner," Luffy said pointing to a corner of the room. "You can tie me up and bring me to Buggy claiming that I was your old boss and ask to join his crew. While everyone is distracted, you can sneak into the storage room and steal the treasure."

Nami was impressed by this idea; it was almost flawless. That is except for the fact that it also involved tying Luffy up making him vulnerable. Feeling concerned for him she asked, "What about you? Those pirates could kill you if you're tied up."

"Don't worry about me. I stronger than you think," Luffy replied making Nami remember how he had repelled a cannon ball with his own fist.

Luffy walked over to get the rope and gave it to Nami.

"Alright, let's get started," he said as Nami began tying him up and preparing to walk to Buggy's encampment.

Alright, this is where I'll stop for now. The chapters seem to get longer and longer. This is one of the times Luffy will use his brain. It will only happen at select times. Please review and let me know what you think. See ya later.


	4. Buggy's Brutal Downfall

Here I am again with the rest of the Orange Town Arc. I hope I'm still managing to capture the spirit of One Piece. Well here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but one day Luffy will.

Orange Town Battle! Buggy's Crew and Nami's Trust!

As Nami walked to Buggy's encampment with a tied up Luffy, a part of her was still unsure she could fully trust Luffy. Sure he seemed to want to help her, but it was still hard for her to believe it after what Arlong had put her through.

'_I already said I'd go along with his plan so I'll just see what happens next. His actions from here on out will determine if he can earn my complete trust,'_ Nami thought.

Luffy could tell that she was still hesitant but he kept quiet about it, knowing it wasn't an easy decision for her to make. He was just happy that she was at least giving him a chance. There was something about Nami that he couldn't explain. He felt drawn to her, but he didn't know why. His instincts seemed to tell him that he needed to help her, and that was exactly what he was going to do. But first, he had to keep his promise to help Nami get Buggy's treasure. By now they had arrived at the encampment, and Nami walked onto the ship and right up to Buggy. She hurled Luffy onto the deck and handed the map back to Buggy,

"Here's your map back Buggy," Nami said with no emotion on her face or in her voice.

"What made you change your mind, girl?" an un-amused Buggy growled.

"This guy was my captain, but I got sick and tired of him always putting my life in danger. I decided to tie him up and bring him here. My name is Nami and I would like to be part of your crew."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Buggy burst out laughing followed by the rest of the crew.

"I like you girl, you've got spunk," Buggy said between laughs. "Men! We're going to have a celebration in honor of our new crewmate Nami!"

Nami relaxed as the pirates cheered and began the festivities, the plan was working so far. Buggy's crew was laughing and drinking and drinking some more, completely unaware that they were being duped by Luffy and Nami. Speaking of Luffy, he was still tied up and had been put in a cage. He was patiently watching the party as his eyes made contact with Nami's. He gave her a quick nod to let her know that he was okay and Nami attention went back to looking for a good chance to steal the treasure. Suddenly Buggy decided to make the party more interesting.

"Alright boys, ready the Buggy Bomb!"

The pirates then loaded one of the cannons and aim it at one of the rows of houses. Everyone went silent as the cannon was lit. Nami was confused at why there was so much anticipation over a cannon shot. She soon got her answer, however, as the cannon was fired. The resulting explosion razed to row of houses that were in the line of fire. Nami was now very scared of the Buggy Pirates and started thinking of a way to escape, all thoughts of money gone. Buggy turned to her and told her it was her turn to fire the cannon, giving her a box of matches. She assumed that he meant at one of the houses, but the crew turned the cannon to face Luffy.

"You said that you hated you old boss, so fire the Buggy Bomb at him and prove your loyalty me," Buggy cackled.

Nami was now at war with herself, knowing that if she didn't fire it Buggy would kill her. _'But if I do fire it, I'll kill Luffy. Sure he's a pirate, but he's risking his life to help me. If I kill him in cold blood, I'll be no better than Buggy,'_ Nami thought.

Sensing her hesitation, one of the pirates grabbed to box of matches from Nami's hand. Without thinking, Nami quickly took the three pieces of her staff out from under her skirt, attached them together, and hit the pirate hard on the head. Luffy saw this and was impressed that Nami refused to kill him even though her own life was at stake. Buggy, on the other hand, was furious at Nami's 'betrayal'.

"You little brat! How dare you harm one of my men after I was nice enough to let you in my crew! Kill her boys!" Buggy shouted.

The pirates attacked Nami, who used her staff to block all of them. She then crawled away from them as fast as she could, but she noticed that the fuse of the cannon had been lit. In a panic, Nami rushed over to the cannon and grabbed the fuse with her bare hands, burning them in the process.

Now Luffy was mad. These pirates were hurting a girl who had risked her life to save his own, and he was NOT going to let them continue. Luffy changed his entire body into water in order to escape his little prison. While in his water form, he got out of the rope and cage, and shot right into pirates from the side with the force of a geyser. All but Buggy and five of his crew were knocked out cold and Luffy changed back into his rubber form right in front of Nami, who was both shocked at how Luffy had changed into water and looking at him admiringly since he had saved her again. Any doubt she still had about Luffy vanished at that moment, now knowing she could trust Luffy completely. Nami wasn't fully aware of it yet, but she was rapidly developing a crush on Luffy for his good heart. She soon snapped out of her admiring as she remembered where she was. Luffy turned to her and saw her worried face.

"Don't worry Nami, I'll take care of these guys. They won't hurt you anymore, I promise you that," Luffy said comfortingly with his trademark grin.

Just then, Zoro jumped in out of nowhere ready for some action…only to see that most of the pirates had been dealt with.

"Well, I guess you took care of the small fry, eh Captain?"

"Hey Zoro, glad you found this place! You can take care of the rest of them if you want."

"Heh, no problem."

Zoro engaged the five remaining pirates while Luffy tended to Nami and her burnt hands.

"Nami, let me see your hands," he said gently.

Nami held out her hands and Luffy looked at them. They were still bright red from the cannon fuse, and Luffy silently promised to make Buggy pay for this.

"Nami, what I'm about to do might freak you out a little, but I promise I'll explain later."

Nami wasn't sure what he meant but this boy had earned her trust so she allowed him to do whatever he was going to do. Smiling at the fact that she trusted him, Luffy proceeded to change his hands to water and move them around Nami's hands. To her, the water felt cool and soothing and the burning sensation disappeared. Luffy returned his hands to normal and let Nami see her hands. To her surprise, they were completely healed and healthy again.

"What the..," Nami began.

"I'll explain when we're in a safer environment," Luffy said quickly causing Nami to blush slightly. She liked that he was concerned for her safety.

Meanwhile, Zoro was fighting Buggy, having already beaten the remaining five crew members which wasn't hard at all. Zoro sliced Buggy into three pieces, assuming he was dead after that. He was dead wrong, however, as when Zoro had turned his back to him Buggy attacked him from behind. Buggy had devil fruit powers, specifically the Chop-Chop Fruit, and he used his Chop-Chop Cannon to stab Zoro in the back using daggers. Both Luffy and Nami saw this and they each had a different reaction. Nami had a horrified expression on her face while Luffy was glaring at Buggy.

"Stabbing people in the back is a cowardly move, Big Nose!" Luffy shouted.

The pirates who had woken up by now face-faulted at this insult to Buggy's most sensitive trait while Buggy himself was absolutely livid.

"What did you say about my NOSE!?" Buggy snarled.

Luffy quickly grabbed Nami's hand and ran with Zoro behind them still clutching his wound. As soon as they got back into town, they stopped in order to from a plan. Zoro went into one of the houses to take a nap (go figure) while Nami turned to Luffy to ask his how he healed her.

"Luffy, how did you turn your hand into water?"

"Oh, I ate a devil fruit. It was a hybrid between Gum-Gum and Water-Water so I can change into water and stretch like rubber," Luffy explained as he stretched his cheek to show Nami.

"A hybrid fruit!? I didn't know that was possible! That means you can't swim right?" Nami said, shocked that the devil fruit really did exist.

"Well actually, since one of my abilities is water I can swim in the ocean. I don't really know what else I can do with it though, I mostly use my Gum-Gum powers."

"Then answer this; How were you able to sense my past," Nami said in a somewhat warning tone, realizing that Luffy must have had some kind of power to sense her pain.

Luffy got a little nervous. He wasn't really thinking when he looked into Nami soul. Now he realized that probably was an invasion of privacy.

"Well, uh, I'm not really sure how I do it. As long as I can remember I've been able sense people's feelings, but I can't control how much information I get. I'm sorry if I went too far Nami," Luffy said with a solemn expression.

"You've saved me three times now, so I guess I'll let it slide this time. To be honest, I'm grateful that you're willing to help me even though we just met. Just promise me you won't do it again," Nami said.

"I promise Nami, thank you," Luffy said as he pulled Nami into their first hug which Nami returned. She was happy that her new friend was so honest and caring. They stayed like that for a couple minutes before separating when they heard a dog barking. They looked in the direction it came from and saw a dog sitting in front of what appeared to be a pet store. Curious, they walked over to the dog.

"What's with this dog? He's not moving a muscle," Nami said.

"That dog's name is Chouchou, and he is guarding his master's shop," said an old man walking toward them.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked with his head tilted.

"My name's Boodle and I'm this town's Mayor."

"I'm Luffy and this is Nami," Luffy introduced themselves. "So where is Chouchou's master?"

"Well six months ago he died of an illness," Boodle answered with a sad expression. "The reason Chouchou stands here guarding this store is because it is his treasure."

Just then, they heard a lion roar and turned around to see Buggy's first mate Mohji the Beast Tamer riding his pet lion Richie.

"Who are you," Nami said in an angry tone.

"Out of our way girl. Richie's hungry so we'll be taking to food in this store," Mohji said as Richie prepared to swipe at the store with his paw. Just before he made contact, Luffy caught the paw and looked at the two of them with pure hatred in his eyes.

"How dare you try to destroy this dog treasure," Luffy growled.

"Treasure? Don't make me laugh! Treasure is all silver and gold, not some run down old building," Mohji arrogantly replied.

Luffy punched Richie hard, knocking Mohji off his back. The punch sent the lion a few feet back keeping them away from the store. Luffy then stretched his arm while twisting it and grabbed Richie.

"Try laughing at this, **Gum-Gum Hammer!**" Luffy yelled as unwound his arm and hurled Richie hard into the ground. He then threw the lion at Mohji and prepared to continue his attack as he cocked his fist back and turned it to water. He then spoke to them is a venomous voice.

"There is nothing I hate more than people who destroy the treasures of others. **Now take this, Water-Water Torpedo!**"

He thrust his fist forward and expanded the water so that it would hit both the tamer and his giant pet. When his water fist hit them, it unleashed a powerful explosion as though they really had been hit with a torpedo. The impact knocked both man and beast unconscious as well as leaving them heavily bruised. Afterwards, Luffy's rage subsided and he turned to his stunned audience with his usual toothy grin. Nami was the most surprised. Not just by Luffy's strength, but also because there was now a new hope shining in her soul which she thought would never come. Luffy walked over to Chouchou to make sure he was alright. As they started playing with each other, Nami began to laugh at their antics, something she had not been able to do in a while. But the happy mood was shattered when another Buggy Bomb was fired at the town. This one hit the row of houses that Zoro was sleeping in.

"Uh…Luffy, wasn't that where Zoro was sleeping," a worried Nami asked.

"Yeah, it was. Damn, I bet that woke him up. Shishishi."

"That would have done more than wake him up, you idiot!" Nami yelled as she hit Luffy on the head.

As it turned out, though, Zoro wasn't hurt by the bomb. He was, however, in a bad mood since he was awoken from his nap. He walked over to Luffy and Nami just in time to see Boodle start charging towards Buggy's camp. The Mayor had finally reached his limit.

"That's it! I'm not going to stand for this anymore," Boodle shouted. "I'll take Buggy down if it's the last thing I…"

Suddenly, Luffy grabbed the back of Boodle's head and slammed his face into a wall, knocking him out cold.

"Luffy, what the hell did you do that for!?" Nami screamed while hitting Luffy on the head.

"It was the only way to keep him alive," Luffy answered, his hat covering his eyes. "If he faces Buggy, he'll only get himself killed. So I'll face Buggy and make sure that doesn't happen. Come on, let's go."

With that Luffy, Zoro, and Nami walked to Buggy's camp.

A while later, they arrived at the camp, with Buggy looking down at them along with his crew.

"Alright, here goes," Luffy said as he inhaled.

"BIG NOSE!" Luffy shouted causing everyone to face-fault.

"That was the worst thing to say!" Nami yelled as she hit Luffy yet again.

"Don't worry Nami, I got this," Luffy replied.

"Fire the Buggy Bomb!" Buggy shouted.

The pirates loaded the cannon and fired it right at Luffy, who responded by inhaling a great amount of air.

"**Gum-Gum Balloon!"** Luffy shouted as the bomb hit him and bounced right back at the pirates, prompting them to scatter in a desperate attempt to avoid being blown up. Luffy then turned to Nami and whispered, "Alright Nami, we'll take care of these guys while you go get their treasure."

"You got it, Captain," Nami replied as she snuck away from the fight.

Buggy's second mate, Cabaji, then lunged at Luffy with the intent of killing him, but Zoro blocked him with his sword.

"Don't bother with him, I'll be your opponent," Zoro said.

"Heh, I'll take care of you in no time," Cabaji stated.

They charged at each other, Cabaji using a unicycle and a pair of daggers while Zoro was using three swords. Zoro didn't want to waste his time with this circus freak so he was going to end this quickly.

"**OniGiri!"** Zoro shouted as he slashed at Cabaji with the full force of his signature attack.

Cabaji was stunned that he had been defeated so easily.

"H-how could I have lost to a mere thief?"

"I'm not a thief," Zoro replied. "I'm a pirate."

Nami came back with the treasure not long afterwards and saw the enraged look on Buggy's face. Buggy was not happy that his second mate had fallen so quickly, but then he noticed the straw hat Luffy had.

"Hey brat, that hat of yours looks familiar."

"I got it from a guy named Shanks," Luffy said taking it off and looking at it with pride. "This hat is my treasure and I promised him that I would give it back to him once I've accomplished my dream."

Buggy went livid at the mention of Shanks and without warning he attacked the hat with his Chop-Chop Cannon, making three holes in the hat.

"If it's so important to you, then I'll flashily destroy it along with you," Buggy cackled cruelly. But this was to be his final mistake.

At the sight of his hat being damaged, Luffy's rage skyrocketed as his Conqueror's Haki poured out as though a water dam had been destroyed. The sudden wave of energy made the entire area feel as though it had entered a horror movie as Luffy looked up at Buggy with pure rage pouring out of his eyes.

"**How dare you do this do my treasure! I'm gonna kick your ass ten times as hard now!" **Luffy snarled in a demonic voice.

Nami was watching with pure fear radiating off of her. She could feel the energy coming from Luffy and was shocked that Luffy could go from happy and goofy to venomous and violent so quickly.

'_I had no idea that hat meant so much to him. Buggy is a dead man now,'_ Nami thought.

Luffy put the hat back on his head and charged Buggy fully intent of making him pay, while Buggy was frozen in fear as he realized that he had made a critical mistake. Luffy moved to punch Buggy and right before it connected, his arm turned black as his Armament Haki kicked in causing the punch to be even more painful than normal. His fist slammed into buggy's gut, knocking the wind out of him and breaking some of his ribs. As Buggy slammed into the ground, he was fighting unconsciousness, but Luffy was far from done. He grabbed Buggy and threw him high into the air. He then turned his legs into water and screamed, **"Water-Water Launcher!"** He shot into the air until he was eye level with Buggy and then he stretched his arms backwards preparing for the finishing blow.

"**This is for hurting my Nakama, destroying the mayor's town, and damaging my treasure! Gum-Gum Bazooka!" **Luffy screamed as he brought his hands forward for an open-palm strike. Once again, his arms turned black just before they made contact with Buggy, and the impact sent him flying far away from Orange Town, thus ending Buggy's reign of terror on this island.

Soon after, Luffy calmed down and the eerie feeling in the air disappeared with his rage. As he landed back on the ground he took his hat off again and looked at it with a very sad expression. Nami walked up to him and saw a tear fall down his cheek.

She pulled Luffy into a hug and whispered, "Don't be sad Luffy, I'll sew it up for you. Just try to be more careful with it okay?"

Luffy smiled and returned the hug softly muttering a thank you into her ear. As they separated, Zoro walked up to them, trying to process just what he'd seen Luffy do. How did his captain cause the environment to become so foreboding, and how did he make his arms turn black? Just before he asked Luffy about this, a group of townspeople came up to them with angry expressions.

"Hey you, do you know who knocked the mayor unconscious?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, I did," Luffy said without thinking.

"LUFFY!" Nami all but shouted as the people lifted their weapons.

"How dare you!? Who are you people?" another one of them growled.

"We're pirates," Luffy answered, once again not thinking.

"GET THEM!"

The angry townsfolk chased the three of them as Nami hit Luffy again.

"Why the hell did you tell them we're pirates!?" she screamed.

"Because I'm a terrible liar."

The trio managed to get to their boats with Nami carrying her treasure. As they were shoving off, they were temporarily stopped by the appearance of Boodle who called to them.

"Thank you so much, kid. I hope we meet again someday!" he shouted.

Luffy grinned and waved back. Nami then noticed that one of her bags was still at the port and realized Luffy had let Boodle have.

"Luffy, why the hell did you give him that treasure!" she screamed while strangling Luffy.

"Because they need it to rebuild their town. You still have the other bag right?"

"Grrr, That bag you left behind had five million berries in it. It was supposed to be mine!" Nami then lowered her head in a quiet cracking voice that only Luffy could hear said, _"You completely forgot about the problem I'm in you idiot."_

Luffy's eyes widened at this and he realized his mistake.

"_I'm sorry Nami, I did forget you needed that money to help you village. I hope you'll forgive me, I promise I'll try to make it up to you,"_ he whispered into Nami's ear so that Zoro wouldn't hear and Nami stopped strangling him. She calmed down after he apologized and knew he would try to make up for it. The trio sailed away from Orange Town to continue their adventure. Luffy had a new Nakama and this time it was someone that just might become something more.

Well there you are. The beginning of Luffy and Nami's relationship and a big reason why you don't piss Luffy off. I hope you enjoyed it. Up next is the Syrup Village Arc where even more new twists will occur. Please review and I'll see you next time.


	5. The Liar Ussop and Kuro's Plot

Once again, here is a new chapter, this time beginning the Syrup Village Arc. Sorry about the late update. I was taking a break and playing some of my video games, including my new One Piece: Pirate Warriors. I gotta say it was pretty fun playing as Luffy and using Second Gear and Third Gear. But now I'm back so here we go.

Syrup Village Adventure! Enter Ussop and the Pirate Butler Kuro!

The trio of pirates were sailing aimlessly across the sea and were running out of supplies, mainly because of Luffy's inhuman appetite. While they were trying to decide what to do next, Zoro remembered what he wanted to ask Luffy back in Orange Town.

"Hey Luffy, what exactly did you do back there?"

"Back there where," Luffy asked.

"You know, back in Orange Town. You made your arms turn black and caused the whole area to become very foreboding."

"Oh that, well to be honest I don't really know."

"How the hell do you not know!?" Nami exclaimed.

"It just kinda happens at random times, especially when I get really mad. I can't really control it, but when it happens it causes my attacks to become more powerful. It's been this way since I was a kid," Luffy explained.

Zoro and Nami were surprised that Luffy had this kind of latent power within him yet he couldn't control it or tell them what it is.

"We'll worry about that later. Right now we have other matters to deal with," Nami declared. "We'll never make it to the Grand Line in this kind of condition."

"You're right, we're gonna need a lot more meat," Luffy said.

"We'll also need more beer," Zoro added.

"That's not what I meant, we'll need more than meat and beer to survive the Grand Line. It's the most dangerous sea of them all. Not to mention there are a ton of pirates there also in search of the One Piece, all of whom have ships far better than this one."

"Alright, then the next island we come to we'll try to find a ship and stock up on supplies. Who knows, maybe we'll even find another person to add to the crew," Luffy decided.

"According to this map, there is an island with settlements a little to the south of here," Nami informed them.

"Then that's where we're going, take it away Nami!"

"I'm on it captain."

And with that, the trio set there course for their next destination, the Gecko Islands. Of course it ended up taking longer than Luffy wanted and he got bored pretty quick.

"Nami, can't we go faster?" Luffy whined.

"You know we can't Luffy. We're at the mercy of the wind," an irritated Nami replied.

Luffy just hung off the boat trying to think of a way to go faster. Suddenly, he got a big smile on his face.

"I've got it," Luffy shouted.

"Got what?" Zoro asked.

He soon got his answer as Luffy jumped off the back of the boat and grabbed onto both of them. He then turned his entire lower body to water.

"Here we go, **Water-Water Sonic Sprint!**"

"No wai-," Nami began, but it was too late.

**BOOM! **Luffy's lower body exploded with such force that both ships ended up flying into the air. Nami was screaming at the top of her lungs as she held onto the mast of her ship trying not to fall off. Zoro was gripping the edge of his and Luffy's boat as they went flying to Syrup Village and both of them were thinking the same thing;_ 'I am so going to kill this idiot!_. When they arrived at the island, both boats crashed into the tall cliff of the shore, destroying both boats in the process. Miraculously, none of Nami's money was lost, how is anyone's guess. Luffy landed on his feet while Nami and Zoro were lying flat on the ground.

"Shishishi. Now that was fun!" Luffy exclaimed.

Nami and Zoro got up and Nami's first reaction was to hit Luffy hard on the head.

"You idiot! Next time you do something like that warn me! I about had a heart attack!" Nami screamed.

"Sorry Nami, I'll warn you guys next time."

Once that was settled, the trio took a moment to look at the surroundings.

"The village on this island seems to be a pretty small one," Nami said.

Suddenly, they heard a slightly loud growl, which caused Nami to become nervous… until she realized that it was Luffy's stomach.

"Luffy, how can you still be hungry after eating twenty apples!?"

"It's because of my gum-gum powers," Luffy explained. "The way one of my friends from my village explained it to me, unless I'm using my water powers, I'm always in my rubber form, and that includes all of my organs. Because of that my body needs a lot more food than most people, and the only source of food that seems to do the trick is meat. Fruit just doesn't cut it."

"Well that definitely explains a few things," Zoro commented. "In that case we should try to get as much meat as we can. After all, we can't have our captain going to pieces on us."

"Agreed," Nami said. "But we can't use all our money here just for one person. We have lots of other supplies to get, so try to restrain yourself, okay Luffy."

"I'll do my best," Luffy replied.

Just then, Zoro heard movement in the woods and readied his sword for combat.

"Careful, we're being watched."

Luffy quickly activated his Observation Haki and calmly scanned the environment and sensed something being shot at him. He deftly dodged the shots easily while Nami ran behind him. When the shots stopped, about twenty pirate flags popped up behind the bushes. Apparently, the idea was to scare the three of them away, but even Luffy could see that this was an obvious lie. Then on the highest ledge overlooking the shore, there stood a young man with curly black hair and a long nose.

"Hahahahaha, I am Ussop leader of the invincible nation of pirates who reign over this island! You stand before a living legend; the most revered pirate who ever lived! I am the great Captain Ussop!"

As Ussop ranted, Luffy just stood there with a blank stare.

"Surely you know that plotting an attack on this island would mean certain death! My army of 80 million pirates would squash you like bugs!"

Luffy might have fallen for that had he not already used his Haki and knew that it was a lie. Instead, he looked at both Nami and Zoro with a look that said _'Is this guy for real?'_ to which both of them just shrugged their shoulders.

"You expect us to believe that," Nami called out.

"She knows!" Ussop said nervously.

"Yep, well now I know."

"W-well 80 million may have been an exaggeration, but I have a great many men under my control!"

"Correction, you only have three," Luffy spoke up.

At this the three kids who were waving the flags, known as Pepper, Carrot and Onion, panicked and ran away, leaving poor Ussop alone.

"Hey, where are you guy going? COME BACK!"

Nami noticed what looked like a metal ball on the ground which apparently had been fired by Ussop.

"A pirate using a slingshot, huh? Well now I've seen it all."

"Shishishi, that's pretty cool!"

"Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you! I'm a proud man and I won't stand for it," Ussop shouted as he readied his slingshot for battle. "This is your last warning or you'll get to see why they call me 'Proud Ussop' and not 'Pushover Ussop' is that clear? You've already seen how good I am with this thing so you know I can rival anyone carrying a pistol!"

By this point, Luffy had pulled his hat over his eyes and then he spoke in a low tone.

"Now that you've drawn your pistol are you willing to use it? Guns aren't for threats, they're for actions. Are you willing to risk your life?"

Zoro seemed to understand what Luffy was doing. He smirked and began to unsheathe his sword.

"I can assure you; we're real pirates. Consider you're next move very carefully," Zoro warned the now hesitant Ussop.

After a few moments of hesitation, Ussop lowered his slingshot realizing he couldn't win and fell to his knees.

"Real pirates definitely have a lot more punch behind they're words because they can actually back them up," he muttered to himself.

Luffy and Zoro then did something Ussop wasn't expecting, the started laughing.

"I stole those words," Luffy said.

"Huh?"

"I stole them from Red-haired Shanks, a pirate I know."

"You know Red-haired Shanks?! You gotta be lying. Do you really know him?"

"Yep, and I know your dad too. His name's Yassop, right?"

At this revelation, Ussop was so surprised that he fell off the cliff and down to where Luffy was. He then looked at Luffy with a shocked look on his face.

"You're right," he said. "My old man's name is Yassop. But how in the world do you know him?"

"How about I tell you over some food."

"Sure, follow me."

Later on, at a restaurant in town, Luffy explained to Ussop how he knew of Yassop.

"I met your dad when I was just a little kid. He was a part of Shank's crew and they were really good friends. He was a heck of a sharpshooter, I'd certainly keep him on my crew."

"Wow, my old man sailing the sea with famous pirates. I expected nothing less from him," Ussop said with pride.

"He would go on and on about his son. I think I heard enough about you to make my ears bleed. And to top it all off he was a great pirate."

"Maybe you could help us," Nami spoke up addressing Ussop. "Do you know anyone who could provide us with a decent ship?"

"Well, it's a pretty small village. Sorry but you won't find any ship here."

"What about that huge mansion on top of that hill over there," Zoro said.

Ussop got visibly nervous at the mention of the mansion.

"NO! Stay away from there!" he all but screamed making all three of them look at them suspiciously.

"Oh, I-I just remembered that there's something really important I gotta do. Everyone knows me here, so feel free to eat as much as you want. Gotta go!" Ussop said hurriedly as he ran out the door.

"What was that all about?" Nami wondered.

"I don't know, Nami, but now I'm curious to see who lives up there," Luffy replied as he got up with his hands still full of meat.

"So am I. Let's go on up to that mansion," Zoro agreed. "It's probably the only place on this island with someone able to get us a ship."

But before they left, Onion, Pepper, and Carrot barged in under the impression that their 'Captain' had been captured at the pirates.

"The Ussop Pirates have arrived!" they shouted.

They soon got the attention of the trio but realized that Ussop was not with them. They began to worry that he had been eaten. (Pretty stupid of them right?) Pepper ran up to the table where Luffy and the others were and raised his toy sword.

"Fess up, you filthy pirates! What have you done with our beloved captain!" he shouted.

"Boy, that meat sure was good," Luffy said to himself.

"These pirates are cannibals!" Onion exclaimed.

Nami began to giggle at the stupidity of these kids. Zoro just looked at the kids with his signature maniacal look.

"If you're looking for your Captain…..we ate him."

"AAAAAHHHHH! CANNIBALS!" the kids screamed while looking at Nami.

"What are you punks looking at me for?!" Nami screamed as she began hitting them on the head multiple times. Soon the madness stopped and the kids learned that Ussop had just left the restaurant. They then showed Luffy and the others the way to the mansion.

"Whoa, this place is huge," Luffy exclaimed.

"If our captain ran out at this hour then this is where he's gonna be," Onion said. "See inside the mansion is a girl named Kaya who's been very sick from depression since her parents died a year ago. She's very rich but all that money can't heal her heart."

"So the captain comes up here to tell her funny stories to cheer her up," Carrot continued. "When it comes to telling lies, our captain is the best."

"Wow, that really is nice of him," said Luffy.

"So how are we gonna get in? There are guards blocking every entrance," Nami asked.

"Hmm…. Ah! I've got an idea," Luffy said after thinking a while.

He reached over to Nami and picked her up bridal style (again not thinking) causing Nami to blush slightly at the position she was in.

"You guys might want to hang on. I'm about to launch us into her yard," Luffy said looking at the four others.

Zoro grabbed onto Luffy's left shoulder while the three kids grabbed onto his legs. Luffy then squatted down and turned his feet into water.

"**Water-Water…..Launcher!"** Luffy yelled as two columns of water shot out from under him launching them all into the sky. They ended up floating above the mansion for a few seconds before gravity kicked in and they plummeted towards earth. Nami was screaming at the top of her lungs as she clung tighter to Luffy trying not to fall. Zoro, however, lost his grip on Luffy while the kids fell unconscious and let go of Luffy's legs. So all four of them fell to the ground with no way to cushion their fall while Luffy shot another column of water from his feet to the ground in order to slow down his and Nami's decent. When he landed he put Nami back on the ground and noticed that she was breathing heavily. Once she got her breath back she let go of Luffy.

"I believe that was a successful entry, Shishishi!" Luffy laughed.

"NO IT WASN'T!" the four boys yelled at him with shark teeth.

Their yelling got the attention of Kaya and Ussop who was in the middle of a story.

"Who are you people?" asked Kaya from her second story bedroom window.

"Oh, you must be Kaya. We came to ask you a favor," Luffy said.

"A favor? Sure, what is-"

"What is going on here?" asked another voice from the other side of the yard.

It was Klahadore, one of Kaya's caretakers. He wore a black suit with round glasses that he was constantly adjusting as they always slipped down his nose.

"Oh Klahadore, these people were just asking me a favor please don't mind them," Kaya explained.

"You don't need to tell me. I will listen to your explanation later," Klahadore said while walking toward the group. "For now I would like all of you to leave this property at once. Or did you have something you wanted to say."

"Of course! We wouldn't be here if we didn't. We'd like a ship for-"

"Absolutely not!" Klahadore cut off Luffy making him pout and sit on the ground depressed.

"Ussop!" Kaya yelled suddenly as Ussop had fallen out of the tree he was sitting on.

"I'm okay Kaya, I just lost my footing," Ussop assured her.

Klahadore turned his attention to Ussop and said, "I've heard about you. You have quite a reputation in the village."

Ussop stood up proudly and said, "I'm not surprised, my acts of bravery are sure to have been heard in the Grand Line."

"I've heard about your father as well," Klahadore said while adjusting his glasses.

Ussop clenched his teeth in anger and glared at the butler.

"What did you say," he said in a warning tone.

"Klahadore stop!" Kaya exclaimed as she saw Ussop's hurt expression.

"You're just the son of a low class pirate. Anything you do won't be much of a surprise to me…but stop bothering Miss Kaya," Klahadore exclaimed which earned him both Ussop and Luffy's anger.

"How dare you insult my father!?" Ussop yelled.

"That's enough Klahadore! Apologize to Ussop this instant!" Kaya exclaimed.

"Why should I? I'm only speaking the truth. However, I do sympathize with you. You must hate your worthless father who abandoned you and your mother in favor of life as a filthy pirate."

"Damn you bastard! Stop insulting a father!" Ussop yelled.

"Don't be so agitated. This is the best time to do what you do best: lie. Just say he's not your father and that you have nothing to do with him…"

That last statement cause Ussop to snap, he ran straight up to Klahadore and **WHAM!** He punched him in the face sending the jackass backwards slightly.

"See that, he resorted to violence. The old saying is true; 'Like father like son'. You're nothing more than scum."

"SHUT UP! I'M PROUD THAT MY DAD IS A PIRATE! IT'S TRUE THAT I LIE ABOUT LOTS OF THINGS, BUT THERE'S ONE THING I'LL NEVER LIE ABOUT AND THAT IS MY DAD! HIS BLOOD RUNS IN MY VEINS, THE BLOOD OF A BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA!" Ussop screamed.

"A brave warrior of the sea, eh? That's a pretty naïve ideology. The only reason you want to get close to Miss Kaya is for her money," Klahadore continued. "You're the son of scum; period."

Ussop grabbed Klahadore by the collar and got ready to hit him again.

"Ussop, please stop! Don't resort to violence again. Klahadore isn't a bad person, he's just being overprotective of me," Kaya pleaded with her hand on her forehead.

Ussop seemed to hesitate before he let go of Klahadore.

"All of you, leave now and never return," Klahadore ordered.

"Fine, you don't have to tell me twice. I'm never coming back," said a very angry Ussop as he walked away from Klahadore.

The three kids were now yelling at Klahadore, cursing him for being mean to Ussop, while Zoro and Nami were trying to hold an enraged Luffy back.

"Why are you still here? GET OUT NOW!" Klahadore ordered.

Later on back in the village Zoro, Nami, Pepper, and Carrot were hanging out by a fence.

"I wonder where Luffy went," Nami said.

"Don't know, maybe he went to look for the 'Captain'," said Zoro who was sitting down with his hand behind his head and his eyes closed.

"The captain is probably down by the coast. He always goes there when he needs to blow off steam," Carrot said.

Suddenly, they heard Onion come running up to them screaming things like 'what are we gonna do?' and 'we're doomed!' Once he got to the other boys he stopped to catch his breath before telling them what he saw.

"There was a really weird man walking backwards," he said while pointing behind him.

"Liar," Pepper and Carrot said with blank expressions.

"It's true! See for yourselves," Onion insisted while still pointing.

All of them looked down the road and sure enough, moon-waking towards them was a man wearing a black hat that concealed the top of his face, a dark blue jacket, and green dress pants. He had red tinted sunglasses that had lenses shaped like hearts and grey hair.

"Okay which one of you called me weird? I'm not _weird_," the man said while doing what appeared to be some very weird dance poses.

"You look _pretty _weird to me," Nami said with a blank expression and no emotion in her voice.

"Well I'm not! I'm just a passing hypnotist."

"Really!? Show us something," the three kids exclaimed.

"What? You expect me to show my hypnotic skills to some random strangers?" the man asked with a glare. Nevertheless, he pulled out what looked like and hypnotic ring on a string and began to swing it back and forth in front of the three kids who followed the ring's movement with undivided attention.

"When I say "One, Two, Jango" you will fall asleep. "One…Two…Jango!"

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ."

All three kids had fallen out cold, and so did the man as he forgot to look away from his own ring.

"Its official, that guy is a weirdo," Zoro said.

"No, he's just stupid."

A little while later, we find Ussop sitting down on the edge of a cliff underneath a tree. He was deep in though and didn't notice that Luffy had found him. Luffy hung himself upside-down with his feet hanging from one of the branches right in front of Ussop's face. The poor guy nearly had a heart attack, and he fell backwards.

"So this is where you've been," Luffy said with his usual grin.

"Hey! Can't you greet people normally? And what do you want?" Ussop asked with a sweat drop.

"Nothing really," Luffy replied as he fell out of his hanging position and flat on his face. He quickly recovered and sat on the cliff with his feet dangling over the side. Ussop's mood then turned sad as his went back to what had happened today.

"Damn that caretaker… how dare he insult my father," he growled.

Yeah, I don't like that butler either. But I know your dad and he's a great guy."

"Thanks for that. I'm very proud of my dad for going to sail the seas for adventure….but still that damn caretaker insulted him. I can never forgive him for that," Ussop said, his mood turning happier only for a moment before becoming angry again.

"That reminds me, will you ever go to see that girl again? It seems pretty obvious that you like her. Shishishi," Luffy laughed.

Ussop blushed red in embarrassment from the comment Luffy made but quickly swallowed it.

"It doesn't matter if I like her or not. As long that damned caretaker keeps getting in the way I'll never get to see her anyway," Ussop said in both frustration and anger.

"You mean that caretaker, right?" Luffy said pointing down at the base of the cliff.

"Yeah, that caretaker…wait what? What's he doing down there?" asked Ussop as he looked down where Luffy was pointing.

Down on the beach was the caretaker Klahadore, and with him was the hypnotist from before. This meeting seemed pretty shady to Ussop and he decided to listen in on what they were saying. Klahadore stopped his pacing to check his surrounding and make sure no one was watching. Fortunately for Ussop and Luffy, Klahadore couldn't see them at the top of the cliff and he turned to the poor lookalike of Michael Jackson.

"Jango, I thought I told you not to attract attention. But there you were, sleeping in the middle of the village."

"I was not attracting attention, and I'm not weird either. I was just showing my skills to a couple of brats," Jango calmly replied.

"Never mind that, are the preparation for the operation complete?" Klahadore asked as he adjusted his glasses.

"Yes, we can start anytime… the plan to assassinate Kaya."

Ussop's heart nearly stopped. Did he hear them right?

"Did he say assassinate?" Ussop asked mostly to himself.

"Yes, he did Ussop. Let's keep listening to see if we can get the details," Luffy replied now listening with interest.

"Don't say assassinate, Jango. That sounds too wicked," Klahadore stated.

"Ah…sorry I meant accident," Jango corrected himself.

"We cannot kill her outright. She _has_ to die by an accident Do not forget that Jango!"

"Anyway, give us the signal and we'll kill the villagers and Kaya. Then you will take her inheritance," Jango said while sitting down on a rock.

"Idiot! An outsider cannot just take her inheritance!" Klahadore said, raising his voice a little bit.

"Listen carefully, this is the most important part. Before you kill her, you are to hypnotize her into writing a will at leave all her inheritance to the caretaker Klahadore. I've spent three years gaining the trust of the villagers so that no one would be suspicious, even if she left all she has to me."

"Becoming a caretaker for three years for this, it certainly surprised me back then Captain Kuro," Jango commented.

"Don't call me that name Jango. I gave it up years ago," Kuro said in a dangerous tone.

"Alright Klahadore, just give us the signal and we will begin the operation. My men have been getting impatient."

"Very well Jango. I will leave it to you."

Ussop was now panicking greatly. The caretaker Klahadore was really 'Kuro of a thousand plans', who was believed to have been dead for three years.

"What are we gonna do Luffy? They're going to kill everyone in the village!" he said.

"I had sensed an evil vibe coming from that guy when I first saw him. I knew he was rotten," Luffy growled as he stood up.

"Don't you dare harm Kaya!" he shouted down to the men while Ussop just face-faulted at Luffy's simple and direct approach to the situation.

Kuro and Jango looked up at Luffy with annoyed expressions and Kuro noticed Ussop tugging at Luffy's leg.

"Did you hear anything," Kuro asked in a low and dangerous tone that would have made normal person shut up immediately. Luffy, however, was in no way normal.

"We heard everything," Luffy said with a serious expression on his face.

"Kill them both," Kuro ordered Jango.

Jango pulled out his ring and began to swing it back and forth. Luffy watched it intently, having no idea what was about to happen.

"When I say 'One Two Jango' you will fall asleep," Jango said.

"One…Two…Jango!"

Luffy's eyes slammed shut and he fell forward off the cliff. He plummeted to the ground and landed face first in the sand. Ussop was now more scared than he ever was in his life. He turned and ran away from Kuro and the 'dead' Luffy, intending to warn everyone in the village including Kaya. However, he and Kuro were unaware that Luffy was nowhere near death and was just sleeping in an awkward position. Kuro himself knew what Ussop was going to do, but he decided to let him go. After all, who would ever believe a liar?

So here is where I'll stop for now. Sorry this didn't have much action, but hopefully the humor makes up for it. Also, I want to tell all of you that this might be the last chapter until June as I have to focus on my final for college and I'm going on vacation at the end of May. I'll try to get the next chapter up before that vacation, but I can't promise anything except that I will finish this story and not abandon it. See you all next time!


End file.
